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Tasmania Football
__TOC__ Regional Originally there was 3 senior football leagues covering the 3 populated regions: #'TANFL (Tasmanian Australian National Football League)' Hobart plus New Norfolk #'NTFA (Northern Tasmania Football Association)' Based in Launceston plus Scottsdale and Longford #'NWFU (North West Football Union)' From Latrobe in the east to Wynyard in the west TANFL The Tasmanian Australian National Football League comprised of 6 clubs NTFA The Northern Tasmania Football Association comprised of 6 clubs NWFU The North West Football Union comprised of 8 clubs In 1980, the Smithton Saints joined the NWFU to bring the league to 9 clubs. In 1984, the NTFA expanded its competition to 8 clubs by inviting the 2 largest towns in the region, George Town and Deloraine to join. TFL & NTFL In 1986, a statewide league was created. It comprised of the 6 TANFL clubs plus 2 clubs from the NTFA and a club each from the 2 cities within the NWFU, Devonport and Burnie. The Launceston clubs joined in the 1986 season with the NWFU clubs joining in 1987. North Launceston was the most successful club in the NTFA so was an easy choice. The TFL (Tasmanian Football League) wanted York Park so East Launceston was controversially selected as the second club from the NTFA. Fortunately East Launceston merged with City-South and become the South Launceston Bulldogs. With North Launceston and South Launceston, it was the perfect scenario. South Launceston played its matches at City-South's Youngtown Memorial Oval. Devonport FC was selected for its city whilst Cooee was selected for the Burnie club. It renamed itself as the Burnie Hawks to represent the whole city. Glenorchy were already the magpies so Devonport became the Devonport Blues. This left the NTFA and NWFU with insignificant number of clubs. So the competitions merged to create the NTFL (Northern Tasmanian Football League). Year With increased travelling costs, clubs gradually drifted back to local competitions. 1987 Longford left the NTFL 1991 George Town left the NTFL 1994 Launceston was the logical club to join the TFL in 1986 along with North Launceston. In 1994 they left the NTFL to join the TFL 1995 Burnie Tigers merged with Burnie Hawks to become the Burnie Dockers in the TFL 1997 South Burnie joined the NTFL so the city had a club to represent the city after Cooee and Burnie Tigers had switched to the TFL 1998 A new TFL club, Southern Districts Cats is formed to replace the insolvent Sandy Bay Seagulls. Launceston and South Launceston left the TFL and joined the NTFL. Hobart Tigers left the TFL to local league. North Launceston Robins renamed as Northern Bombers. 1999 Southern Districts Cats was wounded up within its second TFL season. South Burnie left the NTFL and returned to local league 2000 The TFL was replaced with the Statewide League. Its 6 clubs representing 6 cities : Clarence, Hobart Demons (formerly North Hobart Demons), Glenorchy, Northern Bombers (Launceston), Devonport Power (formerly Devonport Blues), Burnie Dockers. New Norfolk Eagles joined local league. Scottsdale left the NTFL 2001 North Launceston, Devonport and Burnie Dockers left the SWL to join the NTFL. With no other magpies in the NTFL, Devonport returned to its traditional name. The Statewide League now only having 3 Hobart-based clubs left, they joined local league. 2004 Deloraine left the NTFL 2005 Hobart Tigers is renamed as Hobart Lions 2009 The statewide league returned as a 10 club Tasmanian State League. It comprised of 5 clubs from Hobart - Clarence, Lauderdale, Hobart Tigers, North Hobart, Glenorchy - 3 clubs from Launceston - Northern Bombers, South Launceston, Launceston - Devonport and Burnie Dockers from the North West Coast.